[eluser]OverZealous[/eluser]
That's an interesting method. I use a lot of JSON in my code, however, I have too many security restraints to allow objects to be written out in that manner (individual fields of an object may or may not be visible to a given user, for example).
I recommend that you look into creating an interim object for methods like this. Because they aren't specific to DataMapper's goals (which is connecting models to a database), they don't really belong in the core library.
How I handle this kind of code is to create an interim class (mine is called DataMapperExt). This class extends DataMapper, and then all of your models extend that.
The benefit is that you can easily add methods to all of your models without modifying DataMapper. If DM or DMZ gets updated, then you won't need to re-add in your changes.
Here's a starter class, along with a hint for usage:
Code:
// place in application/models/datamapperext.php
class DataMapperExt extends DataMapper {
// standard PHP5 constructor
function __construct() {
parent::__construct();
}
// insert your custom methods here
}
// usage:
class User extends DataMapperExt {
// required: PHP5 constructor.
function __construct() {
parent::__construct();
}
// use like normal
}
If everyone does this, then when someone decides to use your code, then they can just copy it into their extension model. It's more modular this way. I even have separate extension models for different purposes (ie: I have one that extends Ext to handle sortable models).
Alternatively, create a library or helper for your code. The function you describe might actually make more sense there, since it really is more generic. Most of my JSON code lives in helper functions.
PS: You definitely cannot use json_encode to print out a DataMapper object for any reason, even if ->all is empty. This is because each model includes references to many CI libraries, including DB and Load. You can imagine the mess that makes.
